(14 July 2016 – Asia) New York based Citigroup is seeking to increase its market share in Asia by targeting “emerging market champions” in Asia, including rapidly growing Internet firms.
Gerald Keefe, who was appointed the head of Asia Pacific corporate banking in April, said that it would make strategic hires with a view to supporting a growing presence across the region.
“These companies have achieved scale quickly and now increasingly are growing in developed markets,” Keefe said, referring to what the bank calls emerging market champions in countries such as China and India.
“One of the priorities in the new role is to deliver stable top-line growth for corporate banking in Asia in an efficient and responsible manner,” Keefe, who previously led the Citi’s corporate banking division in Japan said.
The bank’s increased attention on Asian corporate banking follows a revenue decline in other areas including trading and deal advisory and underwriting.
Under the corporate banking business in Asia, its offerings include cash management, foreign exchange, trade finance, loans, and capital markets and structured products solutions. The unit will work closely with investment banking and markets teams.
“We have leading corporate champions in China as our clients … they are now in many ways global businesses,” Keefe said. “We are uniquely positioned to help them expand globally with our network in over 100 countries.”
The bank is also looking to grow its supply-chain financing business, in which target clients range from car component makers to telecoms equipment producers, as these firms look to expand their geographical footprints, Keefe said.
According to East & Partners Asia’s Transaction Banking Markets Report, with a combined primary and secondary market share of around 30 percent, Citigroup is wedged firmly between Standard Chartered and HSBC for the top 1000 corporates across Asia.